Finding purpose
by Tamispectrum
Summary: 8 Years have passed since the End war. All races are living peacefully and it seems that everyone can finally settle back down after all that has happened. But there are no shortages of unpredictable events that can transpire within the universe, from deranged rogue scientists, to two souls finding comfort in the most unlikely of places.
1. A new encounter

**Chapter 1: An imminent encounter**

'Heirarch, there appears to be a human vessel drifting in the outer reaches of our solar system.' an attending officer informed him.

'Has there been any attempted contact?' Artanis inquired, slightly confused by this developement. After the final battle with Amon in the void, they have had next to no contact with humans after Raynor's dissapearance. 'Perhaps we are to ask the terrans if they know of this vessel, before taking any immediate action.'

'No heirarch, it seems that there is an interfering field surrounding the vessel that is preventing us from even obtaining the simplest scan so we would be describing something we do not know of. However what intrigues me the most is the psionic emissions coming from it. A pulse of psionic energy every 10 seconds from outside the field.' the attending officer informed him.

'That is rather unusual... Prepare my vessel, I shall investigate this further myself.' A dampening field and a psionic pulse outside the field. I wonder whats the meaning of this. Even after all these years it seems that there are still things we do not know, or events that surprise even the most seasoned leaders. I only hope that nothing goes wrong, like so many things before.

* * *

'I have never seen this type of vessel before. It does not match any previously encountered vessel. Scan it for signs of life.' Artanis ordered.

'Heirarch the field is preventing us from scanning for life forms, but there are two constant high magnitude stream of data eminating from one of the lower decks near what seems to be their docking bay and one close to the command bridge. I cannnot decypher any of it, but the amount of data and its complexity seems to be similar to the purifiers'.' The communications officer explained rather enthusiasticly.

'Understood, i will need 6 more templar to accompany me to the ship. Once you find templar willing to do this alert them to go to the warp platform.' Artanis stated, as he was going to prepare for boarding. However an eerie feeling had started to develop in his mind. Is it possible that the humans have developed such technology so fast? It has barely been 8 years since the End war. As Raynor would say: Only one way to find out...

\- **Meanwhile aboard the science vessel** -

"Zed, how long untill we get usable results? It's been 65 years since my father started this journey and 30 years since i took over, and we are pretty much out of options. Will you be able to make a serum that combines the zerg genome adaptivity and regenerative capabilities with that of humans with what we have left or will we have to make a stop..."

"No Cortana we needn't do that. Know that Guliwer's work will not be in vain. I am begining the final extraction process, it should be done within at most 10 minutes. As always no guarantees can be made wether it will work or not, so if you'd like to wait untill we have someone to test it onto to ensure success..."

"That is not an option Zed, I don't have much time remaining and i'd like to see this project finished. When It's finished please report to the observation deck." Cortana informed. It has been a long journey and she had been mesmerised bu her father's ideals, plus the probability of being an immortal is something she liked greatly. One thing did trouble her... Why did her father completely bar that woman from being experimented on? Why shove her in cryo?

"I know you dislike tedious questions, but what are we going to do about Aerowen Gale?" Zed asked as if he had just read her mind. "Ever since your father put her in cryo, Hale has been incredibly keen on keeping us out of that part of the ship. and the squads we sent down there were all obliterated, tho it seems that he cannot bypass the conditional lockdown on neither his nor her authority. " Zed inquired.

"As far as my father told me she was one of the people he really wanted to make immortal, but because my father also knew that she would never agree to it, he had her locked in cryo. We've lost alot of good men to her damned bot and I believe that counts as treason, so once we are done, we'll escape via the emergency cruiser and set this place to self destruct." Cortana stated matter-o-factly. Her father admired Aerowen greatly, and he often said that she was the one who inspired him to start this project. Because he was a frail man, and she was a strong genius who had such a grasp on knowledge that he had never heard of before. He desperately wanted to learn from her, but he himself knew that the time he had left, would never suffice to obtain such clarity.

"As you wish Cortana" Zed replied continuing the final stages required to make the serum. Her father had created him inspired by Aerowen's Hale. Guliwer, much like Aerowen, created him as a replica of someone but Guliwer has never told him who he was modeled after and he had not created him with a free will. He was bound by directives and millions of command lines binding him to his bloodline. Cortana hated Aerowen because her father favored Aerowen over herself. Zed hated Aerowen because had she never existed, he wouldn't have come to be.

It was only by blind luck that they weren't at all aware of the protoss ship approaching them. or the signals that Aerowen seemed to unconsciously emmit.


	2. A new encounter part 2

'En taro Tassadar! I appreciate you agreeing to accompany aboard this vessel brothers. We were unable to determine anything about what is on board, so stay vigilant. Let us see what awaits us at our destination. This is a human vessel so lets try to avoid any bloodshed for they are our allies.' Artanis briefed the templar that are to accompany him.

'Heirarch, I do not believe they are here with peaceful intentions. The implication of a communications scrambler should be enough proof of that.' One of the templar - Adonis interjected.

'Adonis, I share your concerns, for I too think that this is a strange thing for them to do, considering they are so close to our homeworld. But it might be due to other circumstances, since we have never encountered this type of vessel before. It is drifting through space, so it might be an old vessel, or it might be new. We can never be sure as to the intentions of each individual, but we owe them the benefit of the doubt.' Artanis replied.

'Yes Heirarch.' The templar acknowledged. Even without the khala he could sense agitation coming from the rest of the templar and it is also very likely that they can sense his confusion regarding these recent developements. However they will not falter when but a moment later they shall be onboard the ship.

- **Meanwhile on the science vesse** l-

"Cortana we seem to have a boarding party of 7 individuals in the cargo bay. Shall I send the squads to investigate?" Zed informed her after receiving an alert from a proximity detector near one of the doors, since that is about the only thing still functional in the lower decks after they lost control over those sections.

"What!? How the hell did they get in? And obviously security protocols state that in a breach event we are to send security to investigate. Regardless I will leave the strategic security buisness to your discretion." She was shure that even without being in the same room he would have felt just how pissed she was.

"Very well. Also I'll shortly be on my way to you after I securely store the serum." Zed replied. He didn't particularly care about the intruders. As Aerowen's pet bot did his best to keep them away from Aerowen, Zed did his best to keep him away from Guliwer and now Cortana. No matter who the intruders are, they will not get to them in time, and with any luck they will get taken out when the ship self destructs.

- **Meanwhile in the cryo bay**

"Well this is certainly a pleasant surprise. They finally did it. Oh and the stasis lockdown is off. Guess it's time to get her out of there and tell her about the whole, as she would put it, damn metric shitstorm that occurred here after she got turned into a popsicle. Heh, guess she's been rubbing of on me." Hale mused to himself as he started disengaging the cryostasis protocols. "Man I'm even talking to myself now. What the hell is wrong with me? Well I suppose even an RHI would go slightly insane without anyone to talk to for 65 , protocols disengaged, now to just wait for her vitals to go green..." He paused as he heard the door behind him open, and he immediately snapped back and drew his pistol to aim at whatever it might be that opened the door. Even for an RHI his facial expressions spoke volumes as surprise and fear took over, but he composed himself and asked one simple question...

" What are you?"

* * *

Authors note:

Didn't realize that I could write end notes here. This is my first ever attempt at writing and constructive criticism is something that would be great to have. So far the chapters are short-ish because these are more introductory rather than explanatory chapters. Now that we have that out of the way, stuff should start to pick off from here.

Aerowen Gale is the main heroine here and Hale is her RHI(Recreated human intelligence).

'insert text here' is the protoss speech format

"insert text here" is the human speech format

' _insert text here'_ is a protoss speaking to the mind (will be in here later I promise

That should pretty much cover everything I wanted to explain for now. I'll try to keep the chapters coming at least once every 3-4 days


	3. A new encounter part 3

'Hierarch something doesn't seem right. Shouldn't there be guards down here?' One of the templar inquired

'Yes something is amiss here. The guards not being present isn't the only indication, the lighting systems are offline and they have a lot of dust buildup that it's generally cleaned off rather quickly, which indicates that no one has been down here in a long time. Also there are no escape shuttles here. Surely they wouldn't have left two complex technological constructs here without a very good reason.' Artanis replied, After everything the protoss have learned from terrans, they know that terrans like to leave an escape route open at all times, and don't leave anything valuable behind.

'Hierarch it seems that one of the data clusters aren't that far from here.' Adonis informed.

'Then we will be heading over there first, keep vigilant. It's a possibility that something has occurred on this ship, so keep your blades ready.' He instructed the other templar. Between all the confusion and eeriness Artanis started to feel excitement as he looked back towards the empty boarding site, Due to the lack of lighting its impossible to say for sure what color the interior is, but that along with the eerie silence it reminds him of all the time he and Raynor spent fighting the Mobius corps. It seems that a part of him still enjoys adventure.

As they made their way down to the first of the data clusters through barely illuminated corridors, the same dark and forgotten theme seems to follow and both he and the rest of the templar wondered as to what exactly had occurred here and if there are even any survivors which made them all uneasy. That feeling prevailed until they reached a door behind which their first point of interest lied and Artanis could visibly see the others steeling themselves for whatever should be behind it. With no desire to waste any time he presses the button to open the door. And at the very instant the door was half way open he saw a human aiming a gun at him... Not a human, but a mechanical version of one made from some sort of metal, that wears clothes?

 _That's surprising_. he though to himself noting that it can make facial expressions similar to that of humans. He also noticed what seemed to be fear and surprise, but without being able to read its mind he couldn't be sure. He was about to ask a question but the construct was a moment faster with his.

"What are you?" it asked, speech similar to that of humans, but with an added mechanical undertone.

"It has been a while since I have heard that question. Have you never seen a protoss?" He inquired. It was a weird question to hear after all these years. Even if they weren't aware of the events of the Great war he was fairly certain that all terrans had heard of protoss. After all they had joined forces to stop Amon.

"I take it that you've had some contact with terrans within the past 65 years? We've been stuck on this ship for the past 65 years when one scientist decided to go crazy." It said "But before i go into further detail. Are we your allies or enemies?" It said, tightening the grip on the terran weapon.

Even if it was a mechanical replica, Artanis and the rest of the templar could tell that he was being protective over something or someone in this scenario, after he looked over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of a woman in a human stasis chamber before he swiftly moved to cover her more with its frame.

'The first official contact with your species was about 15 years ago, but we became allies with a small group of humans shortly after that and later the only leading terran governmental power called a truce, so to answer your question: Yes we are allies. I am Hierarch Artanis, and you are?' He said gesturing to both him and the woman behind him.

"My name is Hale. And this is Aerowen Gale." He said as he gestured to the woman in the stasis chamber. The way he said her name had surprised even Hale himself. It was one of those rare moments when he felt a surge of pride. The only person that ever had bothered to get to know the man who was only known as the most notorious assassin, the only person he truly liked. One that wanted to change so many things for the better without taking the cheap and easy routes. "She recreated me after I died. She was asked to participate on a research expedition by one of her acquaintances, but that acquaintance betrayed her. He wanted to merge zerg regenerative and adaptive genome properties to that of humans. She told him it wouldn't work but he ended up poisoning her and putting her in cryostasis until he had finished his ridiculous project. After I learned of what he had done I wanted to kill him. Dealt him a deadly wound, but was forced to retreat back here. I've been keeping watch over her ever since."

She looked rather short and had a paler than average complexion, but then again most terrans seemed short to the protoss. She had blue hair a pointed chin and a flat but sharp nose, definitely thinner than anyone he's ever seen, but the most intriguing was the scar that started on the left side of her neck and seemed to stretch to her back. She looked different from most of the terran woman that Artanis had seen. 'It seems that stasis has been deactivated, shouldn't she have woken up by now?' he inquired.

"Yeah even though most of the tech on this ship was really top notch when we left, cryostasis is, as she would put it, light years away from being practically comfortable to use. It takes a while to..."

"Sweet merciful death what the fuck?!" they all were slightly surprised from the sudden shout and turned to see the woman jumping to the furthest corner in the room, much to the protoss' surprise was the speed of this action. "Hallow who are they?" She asked obviously flustered, surprised and scared. _Well who wouldn't be scared, I just woke up from a god knows how long of a nap. With a bunch of giant, glowy-eyed aliens in front of me. Wow, my life is so bizare. Ok so how to escape..._ Her thoughts got interrupted by the, seemingly, most decoratively armored alien, who presumably is their leader raising his hand in a familiar explanatory gesture.

'You needn't do that Aerowen, we are the protoss and are allies to the terrans of now...' the presumed leader of the aliens spoke

 _Huh, I guess I should probably apologize. Then again I don't even know... His? name. But how the hell did they even find this ship, the scrambling field that the old fool put up should've prevented detection, unless they detected my pulsar. Damn, I'm gonna have one hell of a headache if i keep bouncing speculations around like this..._ Her musing got interrupted.

'You needn't apologize. I am Hierarch Artanis. We detected this vessel in the outer reaches of our solar system, the scrambling field prevented contact and scans for life signs, but there was a psionic pulse of energy every 10 seconds so I decided to investigate.' He replied to her thoughts. 'Also as far as I am aware, terrans should warm up there muscles before attempting serious athletic feats.' He quipped.

"Oh so you can read minds? That's so cool. Hallow d'ya think I should try to see if i can do that?" the young woman asked Hale. The other templar were surprised of the quick change in her thoughts, and all nearly equally visibly reacted a bit in disbelief of the statement.

 _Did she just call him hollow? She really is different from any other terran I've met. Her mind and thought process going at an entirely higher intensity and faster pace than any other terran... And did she just say she should try to see into the mind of others?_ He thought to himself slightly offended by the woman seemingly thinking it wouldn't be hard.

"If you want to then go for it, but it's probably not going to work or if it does it's not going to be easy. And on the side note I'm fairly certain that I told you not to call me 'Hallow' again. Your habit of giving nicknames to everything is rude and it's getting out of hand." the metal man responded with a certain amount of annoyance in his voice.

 _Ah she said 'Hallow". That is a weird name but I can see how It'd make sense._ Artanis thought in his slight amusement from Hale telling her almost exactly what he had planned to say.

"Aerowen I was about to explain to them what happened here, but before that... How did that poor excuse of a man manage to put YOU..." He specifically put emphasis on that word along with gesturing to all of her for effect. "In cryo AND! Manage to walk away with his head still on his shoulders." He leaned almost into her face in a way that spoke volumes about the situation she was in.

"Uhmm... Ermmm... This is really embarassing. He asked me to join him for a drink after he'd told me all the details and I, of course, declined. He invited me for a parting drink. I knew he wasn't really the type to give up 'precious assets'." The terran used air quotes, as Raynor had called them. "I expected him to have some underhanded tactic in store and I got curious as to what it might be. The worst case scenario at that time was him trying to poison me, which wouldn't have worked due to the training. BUT mistakes were made and he used the new sedative I had recently discovered and didn't bother to acquire immunity to, so I uh... kinda screwed myself over with that one..." She hung her head down in shame. This was always amusing to Artanis as it resembled what a protoss might do in a moment of emotional turmoil, but what surprised him the most was her statement about acquiring immunity to poisons.

"Ok I am writing this down, this is too surreal." Hale said as he picked up a data pad. "The prodigious Aerowen 'Azir' Gale, got outclassed by, as you would put it, a total moron. Time stamped 5th of October 2514..."

"2514?!" She visibly recoiled from that, in surprise not shock, which certainly surprised Artanis. "Ok this is your queue to explain what exactly happened. And don't be sassy with me!" She demanded with curiosity clearly visible on her face and in her blue eyes.

 _'That is.. very unusual.' Artanis said to the other templar. 'Usually terrans would completely lose all bearing when presented with a statement of such magnitude. They'd deny it, say the information must be false or that the informing party is lying, but she just.. accepted it?'_

 _'None of us have as much experiences with terrans as you, Hierarch, but I also expected a more severe reaction. Since she thinks so drastically different from any other terran any of us have encountered, and since we are not as attuned as you, we can not entirely decipher her thoughts. That is something I and, probably, the others find unnerving.'_ Adonis responded

Artanis received an overall definitive confirmation from the others that they couldn't keep track of her thoughts. This did surprise him, he had a slight moment of difficulty adjusting but he can understand her just fine now.

"Ok we don't have much time to waste here. Even before you were informed by Guliwer himself about his research plans, he had already amassed a sizeable amount of zerg aboard the ship. After you got 'checkmated' he started taking samples from the zerg to test on the various samples he had. After I learned of what he'd done to you I wanted to kill him, I failed, but managed to shorten his lifespan by a sizeable amount and I had to backtrack here to try and get you out. He locked the cryostasis controls with a code I wasn't able to break, but I was able to determine that it would expire once he'd completed his research. However due to the fact that he was gravely wounded he decided to teach her daughter Cortana, and leave the task, if he failed, to her. He also created Zed, taken inspiration from your creation of me, but he is bound and without free will, unlike me, I don't know the specifics. Guliwer had at least a code of ethics to follow - never experiment on a living being, and he took it to the grave 35 years later. The spoiled little shit swizzler didn't share his sentiment. She mercilessly started to experiment on her own staff, even her own mother, because in a way she felt that she was more superior because she was taught by her father via a direct thought link. After she got unsatisfactory progress out of the 124 scientists and the original crew. She instructed Zed to collect more live test subjects. In total they amassed about 600 more, but lost all transport shuttles so if you're to make it out you'll have to use the prototype armor you were working on. To prevent me from going up there and laying down a good old ass-whooping she instructed Zed to create additional units to act as a guard force and upped the security, so I really have no idea how many hostiles are there. but she only inhabits the top floors. The rest of the events are the current ones and now we need to get going as fast as possible." Hale concluded.

Everyone in that room, even the protoss felt the same emotion. Discontent for Gulliwer and Cortana. Everyone seemed to be of the same mind when they all practically irradiated a desire to stop the misguided person ruling this castle of foolish and horrid ambition, and drive it into the nearest star. But Artanis and Aerowen also felt another emotion - sadness...

* * *

Long chapter. Enjoy! :P

New format: Thoughts - _insert text here_


	4. A new encounter part 4

"Damn shame." Aerowen sighed leaning against a wall. _It always starts like this. Someone getting too absorbed in their own presumptions, losing track of the reality of things and then going mad with the power that is in their tunnel vision, just like my... There I go again thinking about him. Note to self, stop doing that._

Only Artanis and Hale got what she meant by that. Hale understood because he has known her that long. Artanis understood what she meant not because of what she just noted in her thoughts, but because he knew the overall disappointment one feels when someone completely ignores their potential to chase trivial matters that consume them and drive them to madness.

'A shame?! Just a shame? Do you not care about the lives lost to this madness, this sacrilege? Or are you just that inept at grasping this situation that you simply don't feel anger or compassion towards anything other than yourself!' Adonis interjected.

One needn't have telepathic abilities to tell that he was quite upset. Even Hale felt that. Before Artanis or Hale could even start to explain what she meant by that, they heard a sound of a heavy impact, and then turned to look at the source only to see that the wall Aerowen was leaning on, now was bent inwards by her fist and her gaze locked with Adonis in a threatening manner, which caused him to take an involuntary half step backwards. The other templar reflectively activated their psi-blades.

"Pfft." She huffed after closing her eyes for a few moments. Artanis noted that her gaze wasn't threatening, just filled with disappointment. Much to the protoss' surprise were the following words. "Shallow is he, who sees only with his eyes, hears with his ears, and refuses to look for more than the dots of the canvas, hear the sound for more than just the noise we make." She finished and turned The other protoss disengaged their weapons. _Here I go again, hoping to meet someone or something who'd see more than just the waves of the oceans. Perhaps i should just face the fact that meeting someone who's words aren't sweet an shallow nothings, is going to be challenging._

 _Amazing._ Artanis was once again surprised by the terran woman. He knew from his experiences than terran's while a new and often arrogant species, had great potential. _Why is it that she can be so clear? How can someone so young be this strong... I suppose there will be enough time to talk to her later. Adonis really upset her with is remark, and her response will, without question, be a burning reminder to him about terran tenacity and potential._

' _Well this is odd, from how she looked at you Adonis I expected her to try and tear you to shreds, but it seems as if her, presumable, friend talked her out of something rash.'_ Artanis mused still keeping his eyes on the two in front of him.

' _Yes well, I did expect her to get upset, but to receive such an 'enlightening' response after how easily she accepted being kept in stasis for almost an entire terran's lifespan. I really have no idea how you find the tolerance for terrans'_ Adonis interjected.

' _Hierarch, if what this Hale said is true, then shouldn't we be on our way?'_ one of the other templar asked

Artanis observed as Hale looked almost questioningly into Aerowen's face. He found the terran woman fascinating even with barely having any knowledge about her.

"What the hell Hale you look like some teenage girl with a crush. I can already picture you sitting on a ledge somewhere looking out a window on a rainy day. And that's an image that is going to be hard to get out of my head." To which he responded by punching her in the other arm and sending her stumbling 2 steps back. She rubbed her hand after looking at him with wide eyes and feigned pain "Ok. So umm... I'm sorry for the outburst Mr. Protoss nr.2 . What's the battle plan?" She asked after apologizing to the protoss and ridiculously titling, what seems to be a he, as a mister and number two all in one sentence.

'I am not offended terran, and my name is Adonis.' the protoss said after giving a short... sigh? It was fairly clear that he didn't exactly approve of terrans, but what they've done alongside the protoss, has earn them his respect.

"Alright now that that is out of the way, there is an unknown amount of hostiles aboard this ship. There are 2 main paths to take to get to the upper levels. Staying on one path wouldn't be recommended since you guys seem to take up a lot of space, so in case of an ambush it would be hard to backtrack." Hale laid his angle down flat in his traditional concrete fashion.

'So you're suggesting we split up?' Artanis offered. It was the most logical conclusion and Hale nodded respectively towards the protoss. _This guy knows his stuff, perhaps an experienced warrior?_ Hale thought to himself

"Do you all agree to this?" Hale asked casting a gaze towards the other protoss and then Aerowen.

"Yes, though..." Aerowen added after checking out the data pad that Hale previously used. "I take the left side, you take the right since we are the only ones who know the ships layout so logistically and tactically it is the most sound course of action. And I need to get my gear." She shrugged.

"Heh, reckless but a fantastic idea, if we have two fast moving forces with knowledge and direction. If we manage to surprise them they'll be caught off guard due to two groups advancing, if not they'll still have to divert guards to stop us faster otherwise we'll become a problem. Great, now how do guys want to split up?" He asked the protoss.

' _Since Aerowen has partly disapproved of you Adonis, I and 2 others shall accompany her, meanwhile you and the rest will go with Hale.'_ Artanis informed the other templar.

' _I guess then she actually was upset by that remark. Very well Hierarch I do not fully trust either of them, but I will trust in your assessment of them.' Adonis reluctantly admitted._

After the remaining warriors decided who's going with who'm, he finally spoke. 'I and 2 others will accompany Aerowen. Adonis and the remaining 3 will accompany Hale.' Artanis turned to Hale and Aerowen after instructing the others. We divided ourselves so we can have equal fighting power. I take it that it is satisfactory?' Artanis inquired.

"Absolutely! Let's get going. Oh and Hale, Try not to die on me." She said as she turned her back on him and the other protoss.

"Hey! That's my line..." He cut back and turned to go the other way...


	5. A new encounter part 5

"Here is the serum Cortana. Would you like to inject it now or later?" Zed asked after handing her the container.

 _Well this certainly is a disappointing presentation of what it contains, but I guess it can't be helped since we have used up all of our resources._ Cortana thought before replying. "I will inject this if our intruders make it this far. Failure is not an option Zed. What is their status?" She finished. Aside from what her father had told her, she had no idea of Aerowen's past. She new of Hale's tenacity, but as far as she knew Aerowen had psionic potential but not the training to do anything with it. She couldn't have not at her age considering her grasp of knowledge. _Well if she makes it this far I will show her how inferior she truly is when compared to me._ She concluded.

"Understood. They have split up in 2 groups. One of them will be heading past the emergency shuttle, so I will reinforce that position. If i encounter anyone, they will be eliminated." Zed concluded. Her father did make him combat viable, though most of it could be considered experimental tech, Zed didn't doubt his creators' capacity for destruction.

Cortana was now sitting in what once was her fathers' chair at what once was his desk. She turned to look out the window into the dark void that was surrounding them. After a few short moments, she initiated the data wipe protocols. _Even before she makes it here, there will be no evidence of what transpired here. I will be a god amongst the rest of our kind. I will bring forth a new era of order._ As much as she wanted though she wasn't able to imagine it completely. That slightly irritated her, but her father always said that most of the grandest constructs were never envisioned completely at their beginning., that they always reached their potential at the end of their creation. She sighed waiting for her adversary to make it through those doors, to look upon her and secure her fate as the most brilliant, and the most powerful.

That was when she heard 2 consecutive shots, one piercing the doors that led into the observation deck. _Damned useless bot. Must I do everything myself_. She thought as she grabbed the serum and injected herself with it. And after a few moments turned towards the door when she heard it open and said: "Well if it isn't the legendary Aerowen Gale."

 **-10 minutes ago**

"So... you guys really are real? I'm not in some 3rd dream level, altered reality, stuck in a time loop for the next 2 centuries, only to wake up and realise only hours have passed and im actually passed out in the grass somewhere with a head-splitter kind of thing?" She asked nonchalantly. Much to her surprise was the expression that greeted her when she turned to Artanis. It wasn't a human face so it was slightly more difficult to make out any emotion, but if the raised brows and wide eyes were any indication, she got just the response she wanted and almost snorted in amusement. _Priceless..._

'I am not sure I fully comprehend what you mean by that, but yes we are real. And is such a thing even possible?' Artanis inquired. She so casually stated that question that he felt slightly unprepared for it, also the following statement really threw him off balance.

"Yeah... It was an old concept, where by forcibly entering the dream world, you can create layers, that stack on top of each other, but the time movement in every next layer is different. And since it is the dream world, pretty much anything works. I thought it might be fun to see what I could come up with under the influence of some *cough* substances. But after I went through with the 3rd layer it was already the point of no return, so I had about 2 centuries worth of time to think about things."Aerowen concluded. There was no point in hiding this since she knew they possessed telepathy, but what she didn't know was that from all the present protoss here, Artanis was the only one that could understand her thoughts.

'Surely you must be, as you say, joking." One of the other protoss interjected. It was the logical assumption to make. After all that's 2-3 terran lifespans, and terrans aren't exactly known for their mental fortitude and stability.

"Well who knows, the sad thing is, I don't even know whether I truly experienced it, or if I was just tripping from getting intoxicated." She concluded. _Sure as hell felt like it was real. Not to mention Hale was actually worried after he monitored my brain..._

Artanis had a had a hard time grasping that, but from her thoughts he could tell, that she truly did experience somethting like that. And that made him wonder what she was like before.

"Ah, here we are. Wait here for a moment, I'll go get my gear, then we can proceed further." She said before rushing in a room. The protoss waited for a moment before she finally emerged. Wearing a black silken coat and a blue scarf with what seems to be some alloy woven in the garment. She was also carrying a sword and a gun that was holstered on her hip.

'A sword? I've never seen a terran using a sword. Are you sure that is wise? From my experiences with your kind, you seem to have no natural resistance to getting shot, stabbed or injured.' Artanis inquired. He could sense the surprise and glee of the other protoss. and was no doubt radiating amusement himself until she turned to face him and lifted the weapon slightly higher in her field of vision. And when he looked at her, he saw that she was serious.

"Without exception, when this blade is drawn, someone will have to die." She simply stated while looking at it. She could feel the other protoss slightly react to what she said before she continued. "I dislike causing pain in others. But if necessity dictates it, I will use it, but only when I am sure that I must." She finished with a shrug "Also swords are way cooler than guns." Her empty gaze returned to her more relaxed one. as she turned to heel and motioned for them to follow. "After all a strike with meaning, technique and intent will cut anything that is in the way." She whispered.

' _It certainly doesn't look like a dangerous weapon, but the way she said it makes me wary.'_ one of the protoss said to Artanis.

' _This reminds me of one of the lessons in training. A blade without faith will never find the target, but a guided one will pierce through any armor.'_ Artanis concluded. _Seems we share the same sentiment in regard to striking our foes._ _Something about her seems to draw me in. I have not felt this way for a long time. Strange things occur at the least expected times I suppose._

 _'So you are saying that she might be a skilled warrior?'_ One of the others asked him.

' _It wouldn't make sense, for her to send Hale away otherwise.' The other replied._

 _'_ So who are you and Hale?' Artanis asked her.

"Hale was an assassin and... I don't know who I am. I've never been sure and It has been bugging me for as long as i can remember. Its quite stupid to be honest. I guess I've never felt as though I have any grand purpose." She replied slightly saddened by her own words.

The other protoss didn't know how to respond to that so they kept quiet before noting that at the moment all of them could understand Aerowen's thoughts which were only set on the way forward. After a few moments in silence Artanis, due to being more focused on details, detected that they were standing in a barely detectable psionic field. He looked at the other templar who had started to feel it as well before turning to Aerowen.

'What is this psionic field?' Artanis inquired it enveloped all of them, but how far it reached he couldn't tell. but he knew that she was the source of it.

"It's a simple application of telekinesis. I created a sphere that is 25 meters in diameter, with a sole purpose of filling space with force. On its own this is nothing more than a field, but because I am paying attention to the properties of the energy movement of said field, I can use it to detect any entities or objects that come in contact with it. Focusing on the ship's layout makes it easier to focus." she concluded.

'Can all psionically gifted terran do this?' One of the others asked.

"Theoretically anyone who can emit psionic energy can do this, but only if they grasp the concept and train to accomplish the basics. This is one of the techniques I thought of myself. Simple concept that if applied properly can lead to a complete avoidance of conflict. " She finished.

' _I have to admit that it is impressive. I can see now what you meant by terran potential Artanis. Slightly cowardly in application, but astounding control.'_ Said one of the templar.

' _She said its one of the techniques she's thought of, and that has me curious as to what else she can do.'_ Artanis responded before turning to Aerowen. 'Did someone teach you?'

"Way back in the day when I met Hale he noticed that I had psionic potential, and decided to teach me the very basics. The only limit regarding psionics is your overall power level, control and creativity. If you can grasp the essential properties of it you can pretty much do whatever you can imagine." She explained after leading them up another flight of stairs only to direct them towards a corridor from which a guard was about to emerge. They took it out effortlessly. It was a refreshing experience to talk to someone who wasn't looking up to him, or putting him on a pedestal. He did enjoy being in a place of power which he has earned, but sometimes the treatment he received felt a bit too much. He missed casual chatter and decided to indulge in it while he had the chance.

'So you're saying that anyone could potentially create endless psionic abilities? What has been a challenge for you?' Artanis inquired. He was genuinely interested in hearing a different opinion about psionics, though he doubted that they had a higher success rate than any other teaching method.

"One of the most challenging things I've thought about doing is making myself invisible. Though it is technically explainable and comprehensible it way requires extreme focus and unimaginable perception of detail in your surroundings. I've a way to reach that state, but I physically can't handle it for more than a minute." She explained looking slightly disappointed. Just looking at her face brought amusement to Artanis. He missed having friendly chats with humans, their priorities so vastly different than those of a protoss. Their understanding of things so very diverse.

'Perhaps you ought to think of it in a simpler manner?' He added, before she turned to glare at him. 'Isn't the simplest simplest solution is often the best one.' He concluded before her shoulder slouched and she exhaled as they were making their way up another flight of stairs. the others following shortly behind

"Well I suppose you are right. Dwelling on one thing too much might make me lose sight of other..." Was all she could say before she tried to dodge a bullet, which went right through her shield and lodged in her left shoulder. Artanis quickly pulled her away from the corridor and gently pushed her against a wall.

"SHIT!" She gasped as she took out a small data pad, and called Hale. "Hale I need a Puncture shot at C5, A8, D2 and F7." She instructed after sending him the designated coordinates. She didn't look in pain, just angry. Which wasn't what the protoss were expecting.

"Acknowledged, stand by." Hale replied.

They could hear bullets penetrating walls, and Aerowen shifted slightly to the left when one went right past her face to find its way to the guard that shot her previously.

'Are you alright Aerowen?' Artanis asked when he turned to her.

"Yeah, just upset." She replied dryly before walking into the corridor she previously got dragged out of.

'Why are you upset? You just saved a life by not dodging the shot. Is that not something to take pride in?' Artanis continued.

"Because I wasn't focusing of the task at hand. That's a rare occurrence for me." She said before removing the bullet from her shoulder via telekinesis.

Before the templar could express his gratitude, Aerowen started to walk off towards the huge metal doors. Noticing that the bot that had shot her, was different, more elaborate. _This must be Zed. Poor soul..._ she thought before walking further towards the doors, noting that the shot that killed the bot, also penetrated the door. She opened the door after giving one last look towards the aliens and stepped through it.

"Well if it isn't the legendary Aerowen Gale." the woman said. Aerowen cast a look at her and then the desk which held an empty vial, she immediately knew what she'd done.

"You've just doomed yourself foolish girl..." Aerowen muttered under her breath.

* * *

Wow this is getting a lot more drawn out that I'd originally intended. If you've any suggestions regarding the story, please write a review or pm me. :P

Someone is gonna get stomped next chapter.


	6. A new encounter conclusion

"I don't think I quite caught that, but it doesn't matter. Father's told me quite a lot about you Aerowen but I'm afraid none of that matters now. I've surpassed even you." Cortana quipped with a chuckle. Everyone quickly made out that she must've used the serum already, and that the effects must be quite fast for her to think and talk in such a demeaning tone, when clearly outnumbered. And her mind was shielded, much to the protoss' misfortune.

 _Oh no... She already has that noose around her neck. It's a shame but I'm just going to have to push the chair._ Aerowen noted grimly slightly surprising the protoss. They didn't know what she meant precisely but decided to trust her judgement. While Cortana had done a great injustice, they felt that Aerowen had the right to do this her way.

"Uhh Aerowen? I hate asking for favors but we need some backup." Hale informed her over the com. Cortana starting to grin smugly.

"You guys should go help them. I'm sure I can deal with her on my own." Aerowen stated resolutely.

Artanis mentally told the 2 others to reinforce the 2nd team before stepping closer to Aerowen and saying "I will not leave you alone Aerowen, I will stay by your side."

"Oh that is just sickening, How far have you fallen Aerowen? You've become rather arrogant, and you'd be wise to just hand your life over to me now, for your death is certain." Cortana added smugly while getting up from her chair to lean on the front of the desk. Waving her hand around and forming a dense psionic energy field arround it.

"Is that a threat?" Aerowin asked grimly. Artanis sensed that this seemed to angered her very much, but it wasn't blind rage. It was focused, she didn't allow herself to be consumed which surprised him greatly. He didn't know how'd he react to this scenario if he were in her position, but something told him that he'd be a lot more susceptible to rage that she was.

"It is a fact." Cortana quipped.

"Seems like you have a lot to learn little girl because your statement was a threat. This is a fact: I'm going to shoot you in the leg." Aerowen said before promptly reaching for her pistol and shooting her in the shin. Cortana slightly shivered from the pain but quickly recovered before smiling. Her leg was regenerating.

"You know, violence is a tool for lesser life forms so I'm going to let it slide. How do you want to die?" Cortana asked.

Artanis noted that Aerowen didn't even pay attention to the question, but was calculating the regenerative speed of her opponent. After she was done he put a hand on her shoulder and asked her mentally ' _How do you know how to calculate that?'_ He didn't receive a response to his question which slightly annoyed him, but then he remembered that this is her first experience with the protoss and let it slide after noting that she was already forming a plan. The detail of it was the impressive part. Almost like she's had experience with this kind of oponents. Which slightly unnerved him.

"Yes I suppose you're right. How about we settle this with a game of chess, and a Q'n'A? The loser dies." She asked with a shrug, Now she was the one smiling, which visibly brought disdain on Cortana's face.

"You really are intent on throwing your life away aren't you?. Fine. Your move." Cortana said with a shrug before she started to wear the same arrogant grin.

 _Checkmate Cortana, you fell for it._ "Pawn to e4. Do you think killing all those people was worth it?" She asked.

"Pawn to c5. Of course. The greatest breakthroughs require sacrifice. Did you truly name your sword "Rubare"?" Cortana asked obviously not interested in asking any meaningful question.

"Knight to f3. Yes, I figured that while quite cliche, it is a fitting name, to rob someone of something." She said."What were your fathers last words?" Cortana took slightly longer to think of a move and response but Artanis didn't notice it as the quiet observer right away, but Aerowen did and it meant that her plan was working. _Just need to push her a bit, before she crumbles away._ Aerowen noted. Artanis was starting to piece things together.

"Knight to c6. He told me that I was destined for greatness. and that I should subjugate you as my 2nd in command which to me seems like an unworthy request. Why'd you decided to not help him though. A waste of your talents don't you think?" Cortana answered.

The exchange didn't continue for long. Artanis started noting that Cortana's mind became more accessible to him, her responses kept getting slower and slower, all went according to Aerowen's initial plan. Cortana also noted that she wasn't able to think clearly, but she brushed it off as nothing.

During the exchange Artanis got to know some of Aerowen's past which was grim and he couldn't help but feel sorry for her. He also read from Cortana's mind that a self destruct sequence would be activated soon. Aerowen did note in her analysis of the situation that that might be a possibility.

"Knight takes... takes e7. I'm sure you can figure out the answer to that one on your own. Why do you keep trying to keep yourself alive?" Cortana feigned disinterest, while in reality she couldn't even think clearly or she didn't think she knew the answer to her last question, whatever it was.. Her last few moves had been quite hectic which her oponent. _What the hell is happening. Everything feels foggy. Is this some kind of trick?_

 _"_ Bishop takes f7. Checkmate. Tell me... Who am I?" Aerowen asked her calmly. Immediately both of them could see that she wasn't able to answer that when she jumped up from her seat and backed up towards the window.

"What... what have you done to me?" She asked grabbing her head and widening her gaze in an accusing manner at the people who were in the room. _Who are they, I can't remember. What is this? Where am i?_

'What does she mean Aerowen?' Artanis asked slightly confused by the pace of events that transpired here.

"We didn't do anything, you did this to yourself." She said before turning to Artanis. "There was a reason why I told her father it wouldn't work. It never occurred to him that by essentially dialing cell regeneration up by 2000%, the brain would also be regrown entirely which means losing any and all memory. Normally it would take a few hours for that to occur, but by pressuring her into weighing heavy decisions I accelerated the process. Checkmate doesn't mean you've trapped the enemy king. It is a declaration that the enemy king is yours." She concluded before slowly walking towards Cortana, who at this point could barely form a coherent sentence.

'Is this what you meant by 'a damn shame'? You never really hated her did you? You felt sorry for her.' Artanis inquired slightly impressed that her plan worked out. 'How did you know It'd turn out this way?'

"Yes, they were smart people, but they lost sight of all the aspects, and now she is paying the ultimate price. The reason I know this is because I've experienced something similar, but if you want i'll tell you later." she said before calling Hale on the com. "Hale, Cortana's gone. But she has to be killed or the zerg DNA in her will probably surge out of control and transform her. Please prepare my suit for deployment. Also I'll need a 'pickmeup' afterwards." She finished before drawing her sword. Artanis noted that she did so with pity which he could relate to. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he felt an enormous amount of dense psionic energy coming from Aerowen, who was currently enveloped in psionic electricity. He could tell from her thoughts that she was in severe pain before she focused all that energy into her blade, which made it glow, somehow reminding him of the traditional protoss psi blades, before she thrust it through Cortana's chest. She screamed in agony briefly before disintegrating into dust.

"Forced to take another life. Some things don't change easily..." Aerowen said as she sheathed her sword and almost immediately fell to her knees before she grasped the nearby wall for support. Artanis was by her side before he even consciously made the decision to help her, offering her his hand for support. Earning a surprised look from the woman in front of him.

 _What am I doing._ He thought, not knowing what exactly was the cause for him to act out this way, but some part of him wanted her to share her burdens with him and when she smiled at the help he offered and accepted it, he felt a strange sensation of relief.

"Thank you." she said doing her damn best to ignore the fluttering in her stomach before accessing the wall terminal and disabling the self destruct sequence. "Hope you don't mind if I park this house of nightmares in that star over there? She wiped all the data which is exactly what I was going to do so all that's left is to destroy this ship." She said after pointing at the star in the solar system..

'I couldn't think of a better way to destroy it myself.' Artanis chuckled. Noting that she was slightly blushing, but decided not to say anything. He guided Aerowen to sit in the chair that was previously occupied by Cortana.

"We'll I've about 5 minutes before I pass out so if you have questions I'd be happy to answer them." She said leaning into the chair and turning her head to face him. He noted that her eyes seemed dimmer, and her hair color has changed to white.

'During that game you said that you killed your father. Why?' Artanis inquired. Before noting that she was looking at him with sad eyes. And he could see flashes of her past, but they were inconsistent so he waited for her to explain.

"There is a reason why I knew how to deal with Cortana that well. My father did something similar, except without the use of another species' DNA. He ended up sacrificing less people but they suffered an extreme amount. He wanted to make his family virtually ageless, but it didn't make us ageless, only able to live about 11 times longer than usually.. After he developed his solution he proceeded to inject me and my mother, By sheer fortune my sister wasn't home, but out with her neighborhood friend. Slowly we began to lose our minds, but I don't know whether by chance or luck I managed to salvage my memories. My mother however didn't. Within a few hours she couldn't even recognize who either of us were so my father killed her and because he thought that I was the same, he struck out at me. I managed to block the attack from being fatal but I ended up with this scar." She said pointing at her neck, tears welling in her eyes. "I faked being unconscious so he would lower his guard and step close enough for me to disintegrate him." She concluded with a sad tone.

'I never thought that anyone would be capable of doing that to their family. You have my sympathy.' Artanis stated calmly. It was unfathomable that someone would bring so much devastation to their own family. That fact made him feel furious.

"I suppose he thought that we, with our limited lifetime wouldn't be able to make an impact, but why would he ever condemn someone to that. It is because our lives are so short that we are able to live them out." She said. A single tear was flowing down her right cheek.

This was an extremely difficult scenario for Artanis to comprehend. He didn't know what to do or say, and he knew that she didn't expect anything from him, they were strangers after all. But somehow he wanted to do the right thing, he didn't know what it was. He noticed that she was bleeding a bit from her nose, and her eyes appeared bloodshot.

'Aerowen? Are you alright? You are bleeding.' He asked worriedly leaning in front of her slightly.

She wiped the blood off her upper lip hurriedly in response Artanis raised a brow questioningly.

"I'm fine." She lied hoping that he wouldn't catch on. "It's an ability I've been developing. Without practicing much my body can't handle the strain." To this Artanis reacted by leaning in closer to her face, gazing intently into her as if to say 'I know you're lying'. She was surprised by this and unconsciously sank further into the chair. With him this close she could make out every detail of his face It looked alien but it felt serene and she felt peaceful gazing into his eyes. _Hmm, the skin looks scaly. But those eyes, its like staring into a star. Beautiful._ She was beginning to feel more hazy and drowsy now.

'I appreciate the complements Aerowen but...' Before he could even finish his statement, he felt her hand brushing against his cheek. He slightly widened his gaze but didn't pull away. He was surprised by this, but knowing that she had no idea what such a gesture meant to the protoss didn't really ease his mind, which caused his skin color to change slightly, which Aerowen most likely noted. After a few moments her hand limply withdrew from his face.

"Sorry, I'm not entirely sure why I just did that." She apologized and though: _I'm such a damn fool._

 _'You have nothing to apologize for Aerowen.'_ Artanis spoke to her but she wasn't really capable of registering that.

'Since you have been gone for a long time, what are you thinking of doing?' He asked her. With a more composed and resolute tone.

"Probably visit the graves of my mother and sister, if she's dead. Maybe try to find a job that i like, or just keep learning things. I suppose I have all the time in the world now." She answered bitter sweetly.

'After you learn more about the events that have occurred in the past 65 years. I'd like to speak to you again. The terrans of now have expressed a lot of interest in learning about us, psionic powers, and our technology, and I'm considering to form some way of letting them. Since you now have a lot of time, I think you might like it.' He said after moving in front of her chair and looking at her.

"That doesn't sound half bad Artanis..." She said with a smile before losing conscience. The way she said her name made Artanis realize that he might be enjoying her company a lot more than he should.

After a few minutes Hale carrying a suit of armor, and the rest of the protoss arrived to find Artanis looking out a window next to a chair, in which Aerowen was sleeping, that was turned to face the same direction he was looking at.


End file.
